How to choose speakers for a PC

Monitor speakers or external speakers

While speakers built into a monitor may be a functional option, we are
looking for an audio experience far better than that. Audio sources on the
computer from music, movies, games, video, and even Voice over Internet
Protocol are everyday activities. Quality audio is a joy. External computer
speakers deliver this rich experience.

Analog or digital connections

Computer speakers with analog connections that use the common RCA jacks
connected to the computer's RCA jacks are just fine. If you're an audio
purist or an audio professional you can consider a digital speaker system
which has an optical or sometimes a coaxial jack, called S/PDIF, and connect
it to the same kind of S/PDIF jack on the computer. Note only some
computers have this S/PDIF jack. This S/PDIF connection is considered to
deliver cleaner sound because no 'noise' is added to the audio stream from
the computer itself. This is because no conversion from digital to analog is
taking place inside the PC, that takes places inside the digital speaker
system instead.

Integrated audio or separate sound card

Recommendations on 2, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 speaker systems

Ultimately the sound depends on the quality of your speakers. Since
computers today are entertainment systems get a good pair of stereo
speakers with a separate subwoofer as an indulgence. These are typically
known as 2.1 speakers, where the 2 are the number of satellite speakers
and the 1 is the subwoofer. You don't really need 5.1 or 7.1 surround
speakers.

Recommendations on watts

I recommend 40 watts (RMS) or higher for the total 2.1 speaker system. For
example 10 watts (RMS) for each satellite and 20 watts (RMS) for the
subwoofer. This will cost around $100. Remember this is for entertainment
speakers, for music, movies, gaming and rich sounding video. If you mostly
need your speakers for news browsing or other office stuff, you don't need
this. In that case just buy a stereo pair with no subwoofer for under $25.00.